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Pageant Of Drums Strikes A High Note
Capacity crowd watches drum and bugle corps during weekend at Ames.

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Drum and bugle corps competitions bring energy and discipline in performances that win enthusiastic support from audiences like the capacity crowd Sunday attending the 48th Pageant of Drums at Ames Field.

Ten corps entered this year's Drum Corps International competition in Michigan City, as part of the run-up to the world competition in Indianapolis on August 9.

The show was co-sponsored by the Michigan City Summer Festival Committee and showcased world champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps of Rosemont, Ill. On Saturday, the Cavaliers gave a concert at Ames Field to celebrate the corps' 60-year history.

The Cavaliers consider Michigan City a "second home," according to Don Warren, who founded the group 60 years ago in Chicago. Warren was inside Ames Field on Sunday evening autographing copies of "Building the Green Machine." The book about Warren and his Cavaliers was written by Chicago journalist Colt Foutz, who said it's a story of "how to build excellence and sustain greatness."

Michigan City is prominently mentioned in the book, Warren said.

Mike Pease said this year was the smoothest operation he has had in his 11 years at the helm.

"There were no bus breakdowns, everybody got here and I was in bed at 2 a.m. rather than 6 a.m.," Pease said. "I've been sitting by the phone and it won't ring."

Allyson Fairchild was one of the hundreds of young people practicing in grassy patches around Ames Field before their groups would take the field to perform. Fairchild is from Idaho and in her first year as a member of the Colts of Du-buque, Iowa. She is among the more than 40-member Colts color guard who hail from all over the country, and even from Japan and Canada.

Sam Brooks, a former color guard member, now runs the day-to-day organization of Colt color guard rehearsals. He said others like himself come back to teach the new members as a way of giving back to an organization that gave so much to them.

"You're pushing for a common goal," Brooks said. "It's all about teamwork, and family."